De La Salle University avenged its first round setback against University of the Philippines in a hotly contested 3-2 decision on the opening day of the second round of eliminations in the UAAP Season 86 Baseball tournament on Thursday at the UP Diliman Baseball Field.
The Green Batters, the reigning two-time champions, suffered a 5-7 defeat at the hands of their Season 85 Finals rivals, the Fighting Maroons, to move up to 4-2 and share the lead with the University of Santo Tomas Golden Sox.
Presented with a bases-loaded situation, Vince Flores, who was struck out in his previous at-bat, sent the ball to the left side and scored his teammate, first baseman Marco Micael, for the decisive run.
“Well, ‘yung gameplan namin is to comeback stronger. Sabi namin ‘yung game namin nung bago matapos ung first round is alam namin kaya namin; ‘yung drive lang talaga namin na gusto namin manalo is nagkulang dun sa gameplan namin,” said DLSU head coach Joseph Orillana.
And just like the previous meeting, it all came down to composure and end-game heroics.
With the game tied at two runs apiece, DLSU’s first baseman Marco Micael perfectly connected with a timely pitch from UP’s Ram Matanguihan to the left side of the field to kickstart the eighth inning, followed by Pio Villamiel being given a free pass to first base.
It eventually loaded the bases for the Green Batters, as Patrick Rivera also contributed with a single to advance Micael and Villamiel, leading to the decisive hit from Flores.
UP leveled the game in the sixth inning, with Eman Javier driving in a single to the center of the field to score fellow rookie Aaron Nitcha, and another run came through when Kobe Torres capitalized on the throwing error by Flores.
The Green Batters’ Peter Nonaillada won the intense battle on the mound against Matanguihan, limiting the home side to one earned run on six hits and holding them scoreless for the other eight innings he pitched.
The Fighting Maroons slipped to 2-4, placing them fifth to sixth, tied with Adamson University.
The Lines:
UP 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 – 2 6 3
DLSU 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 x – 3 9 4
